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Angels in the outfield: Wings and halos a daily ritual for Florida Marlins rookie relievers

Those weren’t angels walking across the outfield Tuesday and Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park. It was Jose Ceda, Chris Leroux and Jay Buente starting what will be a daily ritual this year as part of a friendly hazing for the Marlins rookies.

They’ll start each game by walking out to the bullpen wearing angel wings, halos and pink backpacks.

Too bad for the three rookies that the ritual started Tuesday night in Philadelphia, where they received more than an earful from more vocal members of a sell-out crowd of 43,841.

Pics made their way to the Internet, where a Phillies fan website called TheFightins.com had fun with it.

“My brother sent me a text that said, ‘You’re such a fairy!’ ” Leroux said.

“The Phillies fans are so obnoxious anyways. They talk crap to you even when you’re not wearing the pink bag.”

Buente said it was “kind of embarrassing” on the initial walk from the dugout to the bullpen, which is accessible through the center-field wall.

“But once you were out there for a little bit, you kind of got used to it. Hearing all the fans yell at you the same time, you couldn’t really hear one single slur.”

The three rookies will wear the outfits every day for the rest of the year, home and away. But the highlight was Tuesday when Ceda responded to taunts by the Philly Fanatic by giving the mascot a hug. The Fanatic grabbed Ceda’s behind.

Ceda is so big that “it looked like two mascots hugging each other,” one player said.

The hazing was the work of Wes Helms and Will Ohman.

“They look so precious,” said Ohman, who had to wear a Cowgirl outfit in his rookie hazing in 2001.